How do I stop the cursor jumping from desired location to the far left of the screen?

Question

I recently bought a Dell Inspiron laptop with Ubuntu Linux 14.04. I love using Linux and love the laptop, but I'm having trouble using the touchpad. Almost every time I I hover over something that I want to click the cursor jumps from where I want it to be to the far left of the screen, often down to the trash can. I'm wondering if the problem is due to the touchpad being oversensitive? Is there anything I can do?

Thanks,

Mx

Have you checked synaptics settings and tried to decrease sensivity level? — benjamin button, Jun 27 '16 at 22:52
i don't know if your problem with speed of mouse or sensitivity anyway try change pointer speed from touch-pad & mouse on system settings
http://i.stack.imgur.com/P2VcX.png — Mohamed Slama, Jun 27 '16 at 23:01
if it not working try this answer http://askubuntu.com/a/257844/464430 — Mohamed Slama, Jun 27 '16 at 23:04
I have the same problem - are you using two hands on the trackpad, with one at the bottom left to click, and the other moving the mouse pointer? — Steve Kroon, Jun 29 '16 at 11:05
@MohamedSlama The concern does not seem to be the mouse/trackpad speed, but the sensitivity of the trackpad detecting touches/gestures which are not actually present, or are just slight brushes over the trackpad not meant to be interpreted as control. — Steve Kroon, Jun 29 '16 at 11:07
Thank you for all the comments. I can't find synaptics settings. can you tell me where this is likely to be? — MadBow1, Jun 29 '16 at 20:43
Also, I am using two hands on the trackpad. I think you're right @SteveKroon - it's the sensitivity that's the problem, not the speed. Is there a terminal command I can use to decrease sensitivity? — MadBow1, Jun 29 '16 at 20:45
System settings->Mouse and Touchpad. When I decreased the touchpad "pointer speed", I had the same problem, but instead of jumping down to the trash, it jumps a less amount. Verifying if this is also the case for you may help diagnose it. You can also investigate if disabling tap to click helps if your laptop has separate buttons for clicking? — Steve Kroon, Jun 30 '16 at 08:59
@Serg This only happens when I am actively using the touchpad. — Steve Kroon, Jul 04 '16 at 09:29
@MadBow1 What is your status with this issue - have you seen and/or tried the suggestions here? — Steve Kroon, Jul 07 '16 at 07:58
@MadBow1: Apparently you're turning this into a ghost question, with no follow-up. Could you solve yr issue ? Feeback welcome, so this thread may be closed one way or another. — Cbhihe, Jul 12 '16 at 19:01

Cbhihe · Answer 1 · 2016-07-03T18:53:34.140

Assuming that this is due to spuriously brushing of yr touchpad as you type, you can modify certain parameters, provided yr touchpad driver is well installed.

First list Xorg input devices.
Results are for my present machine and will be different in yr case.

$ xinput --list  # list of Xorg session input devices
⎡ Virtual core pointer                 id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer       id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad       id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜   ↳ PS/2 Generic Mouse               id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard      id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                     id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                        id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                     id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard     id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HP WMI hotkeys                   id=12 [slave keyboard (3)]

As you can see the present touchpad is identified as "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad", next, to list yr touchpad properties, do in terminal:

$ xinput --list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" | grep -e Finger
# Replace "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" above with yr own touchpad description.
Synaptics Finger (275): 25, 30, 0
Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (281):    282
Synaptics Two-Finger Width (282):   7
Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (285):   1, 1

To understand the listed properties in detail, look up $ man 4 synaptics.
"Synaptics Finger" is the property of interest here:

Finger Low = 25 <- when finger pressure drops below this value, the driver counts it as a release.
Finger High = 30 <- when finger pressure goes above this value, the driver counts it as a touch.

As you see I like to keep my touchpad on the sensitive side. You, on the other hand, probably want to tweak "Finger High" and set it to a higher value, 50 or 60 or more. It depends as much on yr hardware as it does on you. You just need to experiment to fine tune yr hardware to yr specific needs. For instance:

 $ xinput --set-prop [device number] "Synaptics Finger" 25 60 0

In my use-case [device number] would correspond to 10 (as seen above from $ xinput --list) I increased the property "FingerHigh" above from 30 to 60. That translates in yr touchpad becoming less sensitive to spurious contacts.

Another way to configure yr device on the fly, without the need to restart yr Xorg session, is to use the cli utility synclient. It queries and modifies Synaptics driver options. This would allow you to adjust touchpad features that are not be exposed via the GUI. One would adjust parameters via a terminal:

 $ synclient FingerHigh=60

See $ man synclient for more details.

Although that type of configuration is not permanent and will not survive a reboot, it will help you in experimenting with values. Once you're satisfied with device behavior, you can edit the file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf (<- this is my own configuration file's name; yr filename may differ.)

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad"
    Driver "synaptics"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        Option "..." "..."
        ...
        Option "FingerLow" "25"
        Option "FingerHigh" "60"
        ...
EndSection

That should make changes permanent across reboot, but those changes will likely be wiped out, when you perform a system or driver upgrade.

HTH. Feedback welcome.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've fiddled with xinput and synclient a fair amount trying to fix this, but did not think it might be FingerLow/FingerHigh causing the problems. Will try this out, and see if it helps. @MadBow1 - can you give it a try as well? — Steve Kroon, Jul 04 '16 at 09:34
So fingerhigh=60 is very unresponsive, and shifting it to 40 does not resolve the issue. Trying 50 now; however, note that this is not caused by "spuriously brushing the keyboard as I type" - it happens when I am using both hands to navigate on the touchpad. — Steve Kroon, Jul 04 '16 at 09:41
ok. So you may have to look at other properties then. I had not realized that was yr problem. It would be advantageous for future readers of yr thread, that you make that clear in your original question. If you still have trouble, I can try to help you determine what correct property you should tweak. It is no FingerHigh to be sure., — Cbhihe, Jul 04 '16 at 10:46
Not my original post, but it was clarified in the comments. As an update, symptoms persist with FingerHigh=50. It seems I want something else. Is there some bound on the distance between fingers for "two-finger" events - I see now that I can do two finger scrolling with my fingers on opposing sides of the touchpad, so I can imagine it is picking up the fingers of each hand as separate fingers, perhaps. — Steve Kroon, Jul 04 '16 at 13:15
SteveKroon: My bad. I was under the impression, while writing my pervious comment, that you were OP's author. I am waiting on @MadBow1's reply to see if my solution is suitable for her possible "sensitivity" issue ... Bear in mind that you aren't the author of this question. If you have a question of our own, or a purportedly different issue, post a new thread and I will try to help you as well. Anything else like having a solution solve yr specific problem instead of OP's would be thread-hijacking. Absolutely no offense intended here ! I can help you as well. :-) — Cbhihe, Jul 05 '16 at 07:45
Awarding the bounty here, since you made a thorough, good attempt at helping - just a pity we got no feedback from @MadBow1. — Steve Kroon, Jul 07 '16 at 10:16
Thanks @SteveKroon ! Please start a new thread, highlighting how different yr issue is so as to not having it flagged as a duplicate. You can already include all the info I requested in my posted answer in yr question. Also cite this thread as a reference. I will be sure to respond to yr specific question if you notify me in a comment. No need for more bounties ! -- PS: I am sorry that that one did not pan out the way you wanted it. It is elegant but risky to put a bounty on a first-timer's post. I am certain that you now understand why. — Cbhihe, Jul 07 '16 at 15:00
I have created a new question at http://askubuntu.com/questions/796326/mouse-pointer-jumps-to-lower-left-just-before-left-clicking-when-using-touchpad — Steve Kroon, Jul 08 '16 at 11:11

How do I stop the cursor jumping from desired location to the far left of the screen?

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